Manufacture of rail-bonds.



N0. 709,878. Patented Sept. 30, I902.

F. H. DANIELS &. H. W. WYMAN.

MANUFACTURE OF RAIL BONDS.

(Application filed. Feb. 7, 1902.)

(No Model.)

JTLQGIZZbFS facture of rail-bonds and similar electrical Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional Views of the same being the same except that each shows a dif- 7 welding the conductor terminals together;

cylindrical portion, as shown in all the figat thetop toreceive a Spreaders of relatively UNITED STATES FRED H. DANIELS AND HORACE W. WYMAN, OF MASSACHUSETTS- I PATENT OFFICE.-

WORCESTER,

MANUFA'QTU RE 0F RAIL-BONDS,

SPECIFICATION forn'. ing part of Letters Patent No. 709,878, dated. September 30, 1902.

Application filed February 7, 1902. Serial No. 92,958- lNo model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED H. DANIELS and HORACE W. WYMAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Worcester, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Rail-Bonds; and We do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and-exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. i

The present invention relates to the man uconductors, and has particularly in view to provide an improved method of making the rail-bond covered in our application for Letters Patent, filed January 13, 1902, Serial No. 89,499,

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of one of the terminals of acomplete bond constructed in accordance with our invention, showing also a part of the conductor. Figs. 2 and 3 are respecitively end and side views of the terminal or head before the spreader and the conductor have been applied to it.

with the spreader in place, these two figures ferent formof spreader; Fig. 6 shows in section the terminal and the press for forging or and Fig. 7 shows the completed device in section onthe line 7 7, Fig. 1. I

In the manufacture of this bond the head or terminal a is formed to shape separately. from the conductor 1). .The shape is important; but the particular manner of forming it is of no special consequence, as it may be cast vor forged. Itis"formed with a cylindrical portion '0, preferably tapered slightly, and amp d, which is flat andoverhangs the ures. The head is formed with a deep cupshaped recess or depression 6, which is open harder metal, such as described and claimed in our application above referredto. The top is also formed with a, shallow transverse slot f, which is preferably curved, as shown causing the metal of the head to flow or move outwardly, as fully described in the aforesaid application. The two forms that up to the present have been found to be the simplest and most efficient are shown in Figs. 4 and 5- namely, a sphere or ball, as inthe fourth figore, and a duplex conic arrangement, as in the fifth figure. This spreader should be fitted tightly into the bottom of the-recess, as in the fourth and fifth figures, and it is unimportant whether the head be hot or cold at the time the spreader is fixed in place. When the spreader has thus .been fitted intothe recess, the conductor is secured to the head in the following manner.

The particular form of the conductor is not essential, but it should be made of the same soft metal as the head, and we prefer to form it of thin flat strands or ribbons, asindicated in Fig. l. The strands are laid flatwise side by side and inserted edgewise into the slot f over the top of the spreader, as shown in the recess. The formation of this head, hav- Fig. 6, andthe terminal is then ready for the I final and most important step in the process of manufacture, as follows: I

It is essential to the efficient operation of the bond that the conductor should be united to the terminalinthe manner best calculated to convert the two parts into one solid homogeneous piece without cracks,'joints, or breaks of any kind. To this end we prefer to put the terminal in'a die-press h, as shown in Fig. 6, and by means of a plunger, as '11, we forge or weld the parts by enormous pressure into such intimate union that all actual or apparent joints between the bond and the terminal disappear and the whole becomes one solid integral head. It is unimportant forging them together at the usual temperature in such operations.

Another important result flowing from this method of forging 'or welding is that the spreader is completely incased in the recess by the same operation which unites the conductor to the terminal. In the preliminary formation ofthe terminal,

as herein first described, the top of the head ductor-strands also contributea part of their metal to filling up the top of the recess, and it will ordinarily be found most convenient to make them of a size large enough to provide for this. However, should this not be done a small piece of waste metal maybe dropped into the recess on top of the spreader before the conductor-strands are fixed in the slot, or even such a piece might be placed on top of the strands just before the forgingdie comes down, and thus any deficiency in the amount of metal in the head and conductor-strands may be compensated for.

The method of making our imprgved bond being as thus described it is to be noted that it provides for completely inclosing and concealing the spreader, as will be seen on reference to Fig. 7, by one and the same opera-v tion that unites the conductor to the head. The whole method is, moreover, extremely simple and economical and produces a superior article.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is- 1. The herein-described methodof making electrical conductors or bonds, consisting in forming the head with a cup-shaped central recess or depression and an open transverse slot or groove across the end over the recess, placing in said recess a ball or other expander of harder metal than the head, fitting the condnctingsstrands in the slot over the expander, and uniting said strands to the head and simultaneously closing the recess and causing the metal of the head to close around the expander by forging or welding.

2. The herein-described electrical conductor or bond, consisting of the head d, having a spreader or expander of harder metal inclosed in a central recess therein, and the.

conductor b united to the head by being forged or welded into an open groove extending transversely across head. 7

In, testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

- FRED H. DANIELS.

HORACE W. WYMAN.

' Witnesses: v

' H. G. SUDDANE,

CHARLES M. BOOTH. 

